Fasces

A fasces image, with the axe in the middle of the bundle of rods.

Fasces (/ˈfæsiːz/, (Italian: Fasci, Latin pronunciation: [ˈfas.keːs], a plurale tantum, from the Latin word fascis, meaning "bundle")[1] is a bound bundle of wooden rods, sometimes including an axe with its blade emerging. The fasces had its origin in the Etruscan civilization, and was passed on to ancient Rome, where it symbolized a magistrate's power and jurisdiction. The image has survived in the modern world as a representation of magisterial or collective power. The fasces frequently occurs as a charge in heraldry, it is present on an older design of the United States ten cent coin and behind the podium in the United States House of Representatives, it is used as the symbol of a number of Italian syndicalist groups, including the Unione Sindacale Italiana, and it was the origin of the name of the National Fascist Party in Italy (from which the term fascism is derived).

It should not be confused with the related term fess, which in French heraldry is called a fasce.

Origin and symbolism

Although little is known about the Etruscans, a few artifacts have been found showing a thin bundle of rods surrounding a two-headed axe.[2] Fasces-symbolism might derive—via the Etruscans—from the eastern Mediterranean, with the labrys, the Anatolian and Minoan double-headed axe, later incorporated into the praetorial fasces. There is little archaeological evidence.[3]

By the time of the Roman Republic, the fasces had evolved into a thicker bundle of birch rods, sometimes surrounding a single-headed axe and tied together with a red leather ribbon into a cylinder. On certain special occasions, the fasces might be decorated with a laurel wreath.

The symbolism of the fasces suggested strength through unity (see Unity makes strength); a single rod is easily broken, while the bundle is very difficult to break. This symbolism occurs in one of Aesop's Fables, The Old Man and his Sons. A similar story is told about the Bulgar Khan Kubrat, giving rise to the Bulgarian National motto, "Union gives strength" (Съединението прави силата). The axe represented the power over life or death through the death penalty, although after the laws of the twelve tables, no Roman magistrate could summarily execute a Roman citizen.[4] Bundled birch twigs symbolise corporal punishment (see birching).

Republican Rome

The fasces lictoriae ("bundles of the lictors") symbolised power and authority (imperium) in ancient Rome, beginning with the early Roman Kingdom and continuing through the Republican and Imperial periods. By Republican times, use of the fasces was surrounded with tradition and protocol. A corps of apparitores (subordinate officials) called lictors each carried fasces before a magistrate, in a number corresponding to his rank. Lictors preceded consuls (and proconsuls), praetors (and propraetors), dictators, curule aediles, quaestors, and the Flamen Dialis during Roman triumphs (public celebrations held in Rome after a military conquest)

According to Livy, the lictors were likely an Etruscan tradition, adopted by Rome.[5] The highest magistrate, the dictator, was entitled to twenty-four lictors and fasces, the consul to twelve, the proconsul eleven, the praetor six (two within the pomerium), the propraetor five, and the curule aediles two.

Another part of the symbolism developed in Republican Rome was the inclusion of a single-headed axe in the fasces, with the blade projecting from the bundle. The axe indicated that the magistrate's judicial powers (imperium) included capital punishment. Fasces carried within the Pomerium—the boundary of the sacred inner city of Rome—had their axe blades removed; within the city, the power of life and death rested with the people through their assemblies. During times of emergency, however, the Roman Republic might choose a dictator to lead for a limited time period, who was the only magistrate to be granted capital punishment authority within the Pomerium. Lictors attending the dictator kept the axes in their fasces even inside the Pomerium—a sign that the dictator had the ultimate power in his own hands. There were exceptions to this rule: in 48 BC, guards holding bladed fasces guided Vatia Isauricus to the tribunal of Marcus Caelius, and Vatia Isauricus used one to destroy Caelius's magisterial chair (sella curulis).

An occasional variation on the fasces was the addition of a laurel wreath, symbolizing victory. This occurred during the celebration of a Triumph - essentially a victory parade through Rome by a returning victorious general. Previously, all Republican Roman commanding generals had held high office with imperium, and so, already were entitled to the lictors and fasces.

Usage

The term is related to the modern Italian word fascio, used in the twentieth century to designate peasant cooperatives and industrial workers' unions.

Numerous governments and other authorities have used the image of the fasces for a symbol of power since the end of the Roman Empire. It also has been used to hearken back to the Roman republic, particularly by those who see themselves as modern-day successors to the old republic and/or its ideals.

The Ecuadorian coat of arms incorporated the fasces in 1830, although it had already been in use in the coat of arms of Gran Colombia since 1821.

Italian Fascism, which derives its name from the fasces, arguably used this symbolism the most in the twentieth century. The British Union of Fascists also used it in the 1930s. The fasces, as a widespread and long-established symbol in the West, however, has avoided the stigma associated with much of fascist symbolism, and many authorities continue to display them, including the federal government of the United States.

Fasces in the United States

National Guard Bureau insignia

Several offices and institutions in the United States have incorporated representations of the fasces into their iconography.

Fasces in France

The unofficial but common National Emblem of France is backed by a fasces, representing justice

A review of the images included in Les Grands Palais de France Fontainebleau [8][9] reveals that French architects used the Roman fasces (faisceaux romains) as a decorative device as early as the reign of Louis XIII (1610–1643) and continued to employ it through the periods of Napoleon I's Empire (1804–1815).

The fasces typically appeared in a context reminiscent of the Roman Republic and/or of the Roman Empire. The French Revolution has used many references to the ancient Roman Republic in its imagery. During the First Republic, topped by the Phrygian cap, the fasces is a tribute to the Roman Republic and means that power belongs to the people. It also symbolizes the "unity and indivisibility of the Republic",[10] as stated in the French Constitution. In 1848 and after 1870, it appears on the seal of the French Republic, held by Liberty. There is the fasces in the arms of the French Republic with the "RF" for République française (see image below), surrounded by leaves of olive tree (as a symbol of peace) and oak (as a symbol of justice). While it is used widely by French officials, this symbol never was officially adopted by the government.[10]

The fasces appears on the helmet and the buckle insignia of the French Army's Autonomous Corps of Military Justice, as well as on that service's distinct cap badges for the prosecuting and defending lawyers in a court-martial.

Other modern authorities and movements

Flag of the National Fascist Party of Italy; Fascism used the fasces as its political symbol
Greater coat of arms of Italy of 1929-1943, during the Fascist era, bearing the fasces
The coat of arms of the Swiss canton of St. Gallen has displayed the fasces since 1803
Guardia Civil (Spain)
The Grand Coat of Arms of Vilnius, Lithuania bearing the fasces
Fragment of the facade of the building of the Silesian Parliament in Katowice

The following cases all involve the adoption of the fasces as a symbol or icon, although no physical re-introduction has occurred.

The original flag of the British Union of Fascists

Sources

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary: fasces
  2. ↑ Haynes, S. (2000). Etruscan civilization: A cultural history. Los Angeles: J. Paul Getty Museum.
  3. ↑ "Fasces". 2011-03-26. Retrieved 2011-04-13.
  4. ↑ Livius.org, fasces
  5. ↑ Livy, Ab urbe condita, 1:8
  6. ↑ The Supreme Court Historical Society
  7. ↑ Bach, Ira and Mary Lackritz Gray, ‘’A Guide to Chicago’s Public Sculpture’’, The University of Chicago Press, Chicago, 1983 p. 11-12
  8. ↑ Les Grands Palais de France Fontainebleau, I re Série, Styles Louis XV, Louis XVI, Empire, Labrairie Centrale D'Art Et D'Architecture, Ancienne Maison Morel, Ch. Eggimann, Succ, 106, Boulevard Saint Germain, Paris, 1910
  9. ↑ Les Grands Palais de France : Fontainebleau , II me Série, Les Appartments D'Anne D'Autriche, De François I er, Et D'Elenonre La Chapelle, Labrairie Centrale D'Art Et D'Architecture, Ancienne Maison Morel, Ch. Eggimann, Succ, 106, Boulevard Saint Germain, Paris, 1912
  10. 1 2 Site of the French Presidency Archived November 4, 2012 at the Wayback Machine

External links

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